Who's Your Tattoo Artist?

After packing all of their stuff and saying their final goodbyes, it was time for Liam and Ava to go.

They were escorted by two lieutenants walking behind them towards the military transportation vehicle.

After everyone got inside the personnel carrier, Kevin went to hug his wife, pulling her closer to his chest.

"They will be all right..." the husband muttered, trying to comfort her.

As someone who had been by her side since their military academy years, he could see all the sadness and worry hidden behind her eyes...

While Ella and Kevin were supporting one another, the atmosphere inside the back seats of the vehicle wasn't great either.

There were six more teens besides Liam and Ava. Everyone had their heads down, not interested in talking to one another.

Being sent to the academy was basically like a death sentence. Their brutal training made cadets lose their minds in their first years, and to make things worse, there were many casualties as well.

But Liam wasn't worried about that. Instead, he had his elbows on his knees, resting his head in the palms of his hands as he groaned, feeling sick.

The movement of the vehicle, with constant turns and bumps, plus his sensitivity to vibration, was making him feel sick...

"This is a little bit uncomfortable..." he whispered to his sister, who was relentlessly tapping the floor with her foot, unable to stay still. Not the greatest experience for Liam.

The noise she was making also earned her a few glares from the future cadets who wanted to enjoy their last peaceful hours.

"I know, right?" she said before widening her eyes and searching through the countless pockets their uniform had.

"Also, I almost forgot," Ava added after finally finding what she was looking for. Opening her palm in front of Liam, she revealed two hairpins, making him raise an eyebrow.

"What are those for?"

"Hairpins, for your little, uhh... problem," she answered, pointing towards her forehead.

Ava had noticed how Liam would occasionally slip out, so she thought of a smart way to help him a little.

Liam's gaze shifted between Ava and the pins as he grew a little suspicious of her. She was being too nice again. The last time she acted like that, she gave him some food for his stash after his mom cleaned it up, again.

But after the deed was done, she forced him to give her a ride by simply being annoying.

She would constantly play with his antennae, steal his food, and stomp around to give him a headache due to his sensitivity. In short, it was a living hell.

"What's the catch?" he asked, reaching out to take the pins before stopping.

"Oh, it's nothing much," Ava answered, sounding playful and innocent, "come on, take them."

Liam gave her a look before finally taking the pins and storing them inside one of his cargo pockets for later. He didn't dare to try and use them with more people around, and their constant stares would make him feel uncomfortable.

The future cadets would occasionally raise their heads, not taking their eyes off him, more specifically, his unusual tattoos that the short sleeves weren't able to cover.

Even the cold-looking blonde girl with crossed legs and arms sitting next to him threw him a few side glances.

"You'll just have to tell me who did your tattoos," Ava said, sounding as cheerful as ever, but that was far from the truth. They hadn't even arrived yet, and she already had to start saving her brother's skin.

"Huh?" Liam furrowed his eyebrows as he turned his head to look at Ava, wondering what she was talking about. He even started to think that she had finally gone crazy.

Seeing the dumb expression on Liam's face made Ava's face go red. She looked like steam would start coming out of her ears at any moment now.

She kept trying to signal with her eyes what she was referring to, even nudging her head to the side a few times.

After nothing seemed to work, Ava had to rely on her good old friend—violence.

"Ouch! What was that for?!" Liam asked through gritted teeth after getting hit in the ribs.

He rubbed his left side while waiting for the pain to subside. Was that elbow really necessary?

"Play along," Ava whispered, sending daggers at Liam. She knew her brother wasn't the brightest, but who knew he had the IQ of room temperature.

"Oh..." Liam smiled nervously. He now felt like he deserved that intelligence score of five that the system had shown him.

"Uhh... I know a guy who knows a guy."

Ava felt like facepalming. At this point, she didn't know who was worse at this kind of stuff—their dad or Liam. He had become like a miniature version of him!

"Hmph," Ava crossed her arms and looked away, pretending to be angry at Liam for refusing to tell her 'the truth.'

"I'm just surprised mom allowed you to get them after turning sixteen."

"What can I say? I'm full of surprises," Liam shrugged before looking at the others. They didn't seem convinced by the whole act that went down, but at least they lost interest.

He wanted to say his thanks, but his plans were ruined after feeling his stomach start to twist.

"I think I'm gonna throw up..." Liam announced, hugging his belly and bending forward, trying to keep his food where it belonged.

"If you dare to puke, I'll personally make sure you're dead," the blonde girl sitting next to Liam looked down at him, taking out a dagger that had one side of the blade glowing with blue energy.

Liam glanced at the person who dared to threaten him, but he wasn't amused. Could she lay a finger on him? The only one who could stand toe-to-toe against him was Ava, only because she was familiar with his tricks.

"Come on, blondie, you can't even hit a fly!" he teased her. She might look menacing, but she was nowhere near his sister.

Noticing what was going on, Ava raised her fist and punched Liam on the top of his head. She didn't care if she hurt him in the process since he seemed to heal pretty quickly from minor injuries.

"I apologize for my brother," she started, lowering Liam's head as he kept glaring at her.

"You should do a better job at keeping your dog on a leash."

"A d—" Liam stopped in his tracks after Ava placed a palm in front of his face, threatening to slap him if he spoke any more words.

"Remember, you owe me for fixing your messes," she hissed while making a count.

"Fine," he growled, pushing away Ava's hand.

After the little dispute, everyone went quiet again while Liam battled his motion sickness.

He would look around a bit, but whenever his eyes fell on a short black boy with curly hair and glasses, he would flinch and nervously look away, with sweat appearing on his forehead.

'Weird...' Liam thought, wondering if he really looked that scary to him.

The ride continued in peace, that was until Liam got his usual headache attack. He was wondering where it had gone.

"Argh," he grabbed his head, squeezing his eyes shut, 'not again...'

No one paid much attention to Liam since they already knew he was carsick. This was probably some kind of exaggeration, but Ava knew this was different.

There was a distinct vocalization whenever he had another attack. It would sound like he was in pain, but you could hear just how tired of it he was.

"Liam... is it another headache?" she asked, carefully placing her hand on his back.

Liam slowly nodded to his sister, trying to endure it all. Luckily, the shocking pain didn't last long as a blue system screen appeared in front of his eyes.

[Finished system self-repair protocol]

[Rebooting]